Collateral Damage; Owner Upset

[treeseer]

Pruning oak today; trusted groundie to check and secure work area as I climbed. Dropped branch, struck sculpted granite lantern, chipped 2 corners. One of them can be easily glued so damage is invisible, the other, I don't know how to fix it.

Owner is in a huff, after I said I'd plant a dogwood free she says the thing is worth $500, can't talk about it right now. She runs an import business,so she lives on haggling, which I am not always good at. This client netted $8000 in a claim based on my report. My thought is to add a note to the bill expressing my regret, but not making a specific offer to compensate in some way. Questions:

How to reattach granite?

How to respond if she tries to take $$ off the payment?

Don't blame the dog (recognize him Ekka?); he's my occasional groundie but I had a human this time.

Don't tell me to pass the bill to my groundie; we're related...

 

[MasterBlaster]

Guy, what's the skinny with you, and resizing? Do you have a deal with Dan, whore whut! Geez...

Anyway, you just bought yourself a broken whatever. Take it home, it's yours. And replace it.

Duh...

 

[Treeman14]

Soooo, you didn't notice that before you went up the tree. Sounds pretty lame putting the burden on your groundie to watch where YOU drop stuff. You broke it, you bought it. Just suck it up and do the right thing. :angel:

 

[Dadatwins]

I would suggest going to granite supply and try to find matching piece to replace the top. From photo it looks like granite slabs assembled into structure so you should be able to replace just the broken top. Possibly find out where that piece was made a order replacement part. Do not know of any glue that would hold without drilling some sort of pins for support.

 

[darkstar]

looks like a tiny piece of crap ...granite ..... whatever was it from the 1800 hundreds .... tell her it was broken already hehe 8000 $$$ freakin lying :blob5:

 

[Treeman14]

Here ya go:

http://www.finegardenproducts.com/f...t_code=SW-GR08524&category_code=GG-G Lanterns

http://www.stoneonline.com.cn/products/garden/garden3.htm

http://www.galleriacollection.com/stoneforest/lanterns.htm

 

[Ax-man]

That looks like a three piece set, it doesn't look that exotic, Like Dada said see if you can find a top, matching it will be the hardest thing. If you can't find a replacement just buy her a new one. If she runs an import biz you can bet bet she didn't pay much for it, probaly cost more to ship it over here than what it is worth.

Larry

 

[begleytree]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2034&item=3980681372&rd=1

299 plus 100 shipping, less than the made up $500 (by her). Might get ahold of this guy and see about just the top, surely they get broken. Or just give her the top off it.
Anyhow, sounds like fun, one of those kind of folks. If she could produce an actual receipt for it, maybe just let her file a claim against your insurance? or take it off your bill..
anyway, they make stone glue, try lowes, landscaper stone gule. It will hold, trust me, we glue the top layer of landscape block to keep 'em from moving, you can just about lift the wall with it, works for gluing granite vases back on headstones, so it'll hold it.
BTW, good luck
-Ralph

 

[Koa Man]

My climber broke a custom made travertine table top by carelessly dropping a coconut seed pod on it instead of taking the time to move the table from under the tree. I checked with at least 20 stone places here...none had a 1.5 inch thick piece, which was not a standard size. Cheapest estimate I got to TRY and duplicate it was $1400. When the owners (who own a NFL team) came to Hawaii for vacation and was told I needed to know where they got it from so I could replace it, the wife said forget it, she did not like it anyway. This table was a matching set of 3. She said they would just replace it with a glass top which she did not want me to pay for either. Boy am I happy I got a very satisfied customer. They had 3 other tree services before me and was unhappy with them all.

 

[a_lopa]

the guy forking out the 8k has put a spell on you.j/k $200 would be as far as id go on that.

 

[treeseer]

Presto!

Wow you guys are fast; thanks for the feedback. I agree that I am responsible; worst case is I buy it--their cost, wholesale, I'd figure half retail-- and have a bodacious anniversary present that may score major points with wifey. Like lopa I see little value in it, but I may have to warm up to it, haha.

I will look into the stone glue; best case scenario for everyone is if I can fix it and clean it up so the owner will have what she wanted where she wanted.

I do not agree that groundie is not responsible for ground; that's why they are called groundies. Securing the drop zone is their job, not climber's, tho as owner it's all my problem. Plus I can't fire my kid; that would not be smart.

(lopa the $8000 figure was from an unrelated issue; you may remember the thread where a crew trespassed and cut off a 98-year old pecan stem and the tree was a total loss and the owner collected from the contractor's ins. co.)

o and mb I DO have a deal with Dan. Relive the moment; not sure I want to but I'll be able to laugh about it eventually. I'll try the glue when I get back there this weekend and let you know how it goes. Thanks again yall.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

There are several good stone epoxys on the market.

I like the idea of swapping with a new one and taking the "antiqued" one home.

We've all broke stuff, and will again, until consulting pays for all the bills.

What I usually do is first offer to do more work in trade. I can usually get off cheap that way since my half hours work is so much more then they can do.

Insurance on something like this is a waste of a claim since it's probably right at the deductable or under. I don't claim anything under $2k (I've only made one claim so far).

Your boy will be paying for that stone lantern for years, since you'll probably be bringing it up at least biannually.

 

[Brock2saws]

Plus I can't fire my kid; that would not be smart.

Why can't you fire your kid? Hiring relatives is what isn't smart.

 

[Mike Barcaskey]

HS, here's the fellow who carries the flag for the "He pruned it wrong now make him pay for the tree" crowd and he comes across in his first post like he's trying to duck paying for his mistake

anyway good luck with it Guy

BTW, if you remember you sent me some books a year or two ago, one of which was on the Champion Tree Registry. Well I finally found one to nominate, if it makes Pennsylvania or the National list I'll post it
Thanks

 

[a_lopa]

agreed on hiring relatives-a definite no-no.

 

[treeseer]

We've all broke stuff, and will again, until consulting pays for all the bills.

Ha! Wait til you pay e&o ins for the times you may mess up in the new realm.

Your boy will be paying for that stone lantern for years, since you'll probably be bringing it up at least biannually.

Man I got so much I COULD bring up; this is relatively minor. not hiring the kid makes no sense; the alternative is to transport him to a job that pays half the $. 15 yr olds don't drive. Making him pay part was never a consideration; even tho he's been a groundie for 5+ yrs he's still a kid. Besides, honest oversights are different from blatant reclessness, which i think should be paid for.

MikeB please do post on that nomination, even if it is not a champ.

 

[vharrison2]

Bottom line_________you got to make it right.

 

[Dadatwins]

agreed on hiring relatives-a definite no-no.

That is confusing, how do you think a whole lot of family owned and operated business gets work done? I started helping out/ working for my father from the time I was around 9-10 years old. It can and will cause some stress in the household because even though the work day is over, the disagreements can carry over into the house. Anyone that has worked closely with fathers, brothers, ect. can probably relate. Good for you Guy, not blasting the boy on the mishap, hopefully you can both learn from it and move on.

 

[Jim@turf]

Jim @ TREE SERVICES MAGAZINE here ...

Vharrison2 suggests that THIS thread would be a good one. Sounds as if "collateral damage" might be one in which different solutions and ideas could benefit the members of this site PLUS the other TREE SERVICES readers.

Is this okay with everyone?

 

[JonnyHart]

Sounds good Jim.

That is quite a "chip". I get stuff like that out of the way before I start up the tree. This hardly sounds like the groundies falt. Make the homeowner happy, and learn from it.

When you hire family members, it is alot easier to get away with smacking them every now and then.